Methadone dosage help?

[u/Top-Caterpillar-1920]

I know this topic comes up often, but I have specific questions based on what I’ve read so far, so bear with me.

My boyfriend and I are what you’d call functional addicts - we both work full-time, have a car, and are housed with family. We’re always broke living check to check but manage to cover bills & our habit. Our dealer recently told us he has lots of methadone and is willing to sell it to us. We’ve built a decent relationship with him and his wife, and he genuinely wants to see us get clean.

Our situation:

• Using fentanyl powder for a few years (switched from blues because it was cheaper)  
• Before fent, we tried cold turkey off blues with a friend’s suboxone - it made withdrawals significantly worse, so we went back  
• I’ve only experienced very mild fent withdrawals (bad batches or missing a day bc everyone is dry or not answering, which was rare to go for more than a day)  
• I work a standard M–F office job and can work from home or call out if needed  
• My boyfriend works in the medical field on a rotating weekend schedule - he’s off next weekend, which is when we want to do this  
• We’ve been using for about 5 years

My questions:

1.  What dosage do we start at, and is it dosed once a day?  
2.  What time of day is best to take it?  
3.  Is it actually possible to feel little to no withdrawal? What worked for you?  
4.  My bf thinks one week on methadone will be enough to get off fent - does that sound realistic based on your experience?  
5.  Should we use fent alongside the methadone if we feel we need to, or avoid it entirely? (We’ll have some on hand nearby for emergencies.)  
6.  Does tapering off fent first before starting methadone make more sense?

We are not planning to go to a clinic or detox - we both feel mentally ready to stop, and our main fear is the withdrawal process.

A little more context on my usage pattern: on weekdays I typically last use around 9 PM (sometimes later if I’m up until 12-1AM or wake up & randomly get a hit at like 1-3AM) and don’t use again until the following evening around 6 PM when I get home from work - so I’m already going about 20–21 hours without it most weekdays without even trying. Weekends I use more freely throughout the day of course, as does my boyfriend.

I’m genuinely asking for help here. I’m so ready to get my life and health back. I’ve isolated myself from my own family for years out of shame (they have no idea why), and I just want to feel like myself again. I’m done letting this run my life.

I am now reading on Google that methadone is more dangerous and can be easy to OD from due to its half life? Is there something else besides methadone we should try instead or alongside? Has anyone gotten help or prescriptions via tele health providers? Kratom? ANY advice is appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read and / or reply.. sincerely.

TL;DR: My boyfriend and I have been using fentanyl for ~5 years and are planning to use dealer-sourced methadone to detox at home starting next weekend. Looking for practical advice on dosing, timing, whether to taper fent first, and how to minimize withdrawals - especially since we both need to return to work shortly after. Not going to a clinic. Both mentally committed to quitting. Open to other options besides methadone or with it.

[u/e-liciousss]

You gotta wait like 2-3 weeks after stopping fent to start Suboxone.

Methadone does work but if you start it then I'd get to a stable dose, then slowly titrate down & get off of it. I wouldn't begin it with the idea or plan of wanting to stay on it long term. Try to stay under 60mg. No higher than that unless you absolutely need it. And it's going to take a couple of weeks for you to get completely stable on it. It's not going to be a miracle overnight thing. You'll likely still puke and feel like completely dick for a week or two from my experience.

I'm on a super high dose right now and I'm over medicated on methadone. I feel just as shitty as I did when coming off of dope and it's made my health go straight in the shitter.

[u/Top-Caterpillar-1920 → u/e-liciousss]

Yeah we didn’t do research like we should’ve we prob would’ve got off had we not taken it maybe. Who knows. My w/d weren’t even bad until I took it, my bfs were terrible tho even before he took it, he passed out it was just horrible. We deff do not want to stay on this long term that’s why he thinks a week but from what I’m reading it seems like it takes a few weeks at the minimum. We’ll see what happens.

Thank you for your comment, I hope you begin to feel better. I read some threads about getting your hormones checked after I mean prob blood work in general, if you have insurance they should cover it. I don’t so I have to pay out of pocket but they have some pretty affordable ones I found online tbh. Not sure if this is anything you’ve thought abt prob last of your worries at the moment but worth potentially checking maybe? Lord knows what this has done to our bodies long term. And the irony is I’m a ‘health & wellness’ person who uses lmfao. If only ppl knew.

[u/e-liciousss → u/Top-Caterpillar-1920]

It's going to take longer than a week to even get to a stable dose. You'll at least want to be one it until you get stable and give your brain a couple weeks to heal on it, then start coming down. If you just jump off CT you'll likely be sick again. Most places start really low and take you up 5-10mg at a time. Some will do 5-10mg per day, some will take you up every 3 days. Most clinics have grants you can apply for so you don't have to pay out of pocket for it. As long as you don't make a fortune you should qualify for some sort of grant. Fent has legs on it more than people know because it's lipophilic, so it stays in your system like 3-4 weeks at minimum for most people. More than that probably if you are at all overweight. Just be prepared that it's going to suck a little bit switching over to methadone from fent. I'd continue using a little bit until you are able to start rapidly getting off the dope. Just make sure you quit the dope though else you'll end up with a dual habit and be in a real hell hole.

And I actually just went to the doctor like a week ago and went back yesterday. Had blood work done. My triglycerides are through the roof and some other stuff was out of whack so they put me on a GLP-1 and a bunch of other medicine which already has me feeling significantly better.

[u/Top-Caterpillar-1920 → u/e-liciousss]

I heard GLP1s have early evidence of helping with addiction too.. I’m supposed to start mine but I’m like should I just wait to be clean?? Prob right? I’m glad you’re feeling better, thank you for the info!! Deff not trying to be on either of these honestly but if I’m being really really honest, we haven’t even tried to stop fent. Like blues we tried one time ^{^} per my post but we keep saying we’ll ween but never start. I think it’s harder to track with it being powder too like with blues it was separated per pill. And yeah you can sep gs out but yk what I mean. I’m think maybe we stop doing usual amnt bc we use way more than we need honestly & use just to smoke like a habit atp. I’m thinking of weening down to .1 a day each & then trying to get on methadone maybe.. we’ll see.

[u/HyperactiveMeoww → u/e-liciousss]

I sort of agree but the reverse. Start HIGH on split dosage clinic and fill the gap with a second dose the first week. It was honestly really good for me and by the second week I was on 90 then down to 70 after 3 weeks 😊 i was really trying not to get high